Local News

ABINGDON – Federal agents and officers from local and state law enforcement were in the Twin Counties and the Mount Airy, N.C., area on Tuesday as part of Operation Rolling Thunder, a joint investigation that resulted in 24 individuals being charged with conspiring to distribute methamphetamine in Southwest Virginia and North Carolina.

Agents were seen throughout the area on Tuesday, traveling in unmarked vehicles and some wearing tactical gear.

Plans are in the works for a fitness center at Galax High School that would be named in honor of Carroll County Deputy Curtis Bartlett.

Bartlett, who was killed in a line of duty crash in March, was a GHS graduate and was very passionate about nutrition and fitness throughout his life.

According to GHS Principal Justin Iroler, the project has been in discussion for about a month-and-a-half. Bartlett’s father, Sam, contacted school officials after the Lift Life Foundation reached out to him.

INDEPENDENCE — Eddie Rosenbaum has announced that he will not run for another term on the Grayson County Board of Supervisors.
In a recent interview, Rosenbaum said that, due to health problems, he will not join the race to retain his Wilson District seat on the board this November.
His term will be finished at the end of December.

Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam will face former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie in the race for Virginia’s governor this fall after each candidate won their party’s primary election Tuesday.

Northam won 56 percent of the vote statewide, and former Congressman Tom Periello won 44 percent.

Galax is among 21 Virginia localities that did not report a traffic fatality in 2016, and the city has experienced a marked decrease in traffic accidents since lowering the speed limit on Stuart Drive four years ago.

The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles commended the localities that had no fatalities in a statement this week.

Fifteen of the 21 jurisdictions without a fatality were cities.

There were 761 crash deaths in Virginia last year. Carroll County reported six, and Grayson County reported three.

Martina Victoria Hall, 28, of Galax, was charged by Officer Silverio Gonzales, who was assigned to traffic safety duties as part of a Virginia DMV-funded traffic safety grant, according to a report from the Galax Police Department. Hall was stopped on June 5. Gonzales discovered suspected cocaine, marijuana and a Schedule IV substance in her possession, according to the report.

INDEPENDENCE – Six more sealed indictments issued by a Grayson County Circuit Court grand jury that met in Independence on April 28 have been opened.

Indictments against three people were sealed until the suspects were arrested.

Three indictments were handed down against Brian James Hayes of Whitetop. They included one count of grand larceny of a firearm, one count of larceny with the intent to sell stolen property; and one count of possession of a firearm after having been convicted of a felony.

HILLSVILLE — The Galax/Carroll County Relay for Life held on June 9 at Thompson Field of Carroll County High School raised $59,600 towards the 2017 goal, and the local teams have until September to reach their overall goal of $65,000 to help the American Cancer Society.

This year’s theme was “Relay Around the World” and each team’s campsite represented a different country.

Attendees enjoyed food, face painting, a water balloon toss, inflatables and other games throughout the evening.